The Implants have returned with their new album Annihilation. This just-over-forty-minute record sees the punk rock supergroup preach on a number of topics. Ken Conte, Rob Ramos, Chris Del Rio, and Chris Dalley have put together a twelve-song album with sounds reminiscent of the ones they put out years ago, but with updated emotions in their lyrics.
Opening track “Radio Out” features El Hefe of NOFX on guitar, which makes sense as the album was released on his label, Cyber Tracks. The song talks about mental illness and grappling with the thoughts that come from the highs and lows. “Radio Out” does this well. A line in the chorus, talking about how we are living on borrowed time, fits well on a punk album written by someone at this age, rather than a kid in his twenties.
However, something that a punk of any age can relate to is distrust of the government. “Raise the Flag” and “Standard Issue” are a pair of songs about the distrust of the media and how it blindly leads to loyalty and submission to the government no matter what side of the aisle you sit on. “Shades of Black” navigates the complicated feelings of a breakup and asks the relevant questions in its bridge, “What were you fighting for? / What did you have to lose? / What are you running from?”
“Never Know” and “Each Day” feel like songs about trying to move on, and that things will get better as time goes on and eventually fall into place. The back half of this album feels very influenced by bands like Rise Against, bands that probably were influenced by the members of the Implants’ other bands. “Paramnesia” has Conte singing about loneliness and anger, while “Burn Me” deals with the lingering feelings from a breakup. “Fight for Change” relates the sentiment that what we fought for when we were younger can change. Also, the causes were misleading, and the fear that was projected drove a lot of these thoughts, but this has changed as they have gotten older.
The last couple of songs on the album, “Lost Betrayal” and “Brand New You,” feel like they’d fit better on the front half of the album. “Brand New You’s” guitar goes back and forth between clean riffs and double bass pedal fast punk rock.
The album’s cover gave the impression this was going to be a much darker album, a Terminator-like dystopia with a pile of stacked electronics surrounded by skulls and an old TV with a satellite broadcasting from its screen. While there is plenty of questioning and distaste for the government, these songs, along with the songs about breakups and how to move on, can affect mental illness if you don’t know how to process those things. While there were always songs about those feelings with 1990’s punk rock bands, it’s always nice to see the other side of that struggle. I always felt I could relate those songs to whatever was happening in my life at the time and use them as advice, but once you figure those problems out, where do you go for the new batch of things that come up, especially if that band has broken up?
The album was produced and mixed by Chris Collier (Pulley, Prong) and mastered by Kyle Black (Comeback Kid, New Found Glory). “Annihilation” is a great combination of punk rock, government distrust, break ups, and processing anxiety and depression, and deserves a spot on your record shelf.